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Ministry of Defence announce 4,480 military redundancies

The redundancies announced by the Ministry of Defence this morning affect the Army.

4,480 posts are being cut today.

Previous reductions have shrunk the Navy and RAF to the size required.

But it is taking further redundancy rounds to reduce the Army by a fifth as set out by the Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond. Credit: Steve Parsons/PA Wire

The Ministry of Defence says 84% of the redundancies are from applicants.

It means 16% of the posts being cut today will be compulsory.

Those 716 military personnel who did not volunteer for redundancy will be notified by their commanding officers. Although the MoD maintains that any member of the Army on operation, about to deploy, or recovering from deployment have been exempted from this round.

General Sir Peter Wall, Chief of the General Staff, on today's cuts:

But given the need for further reductions in posts - these personnel could be at risk in future redundancy rounds.

These job losses are not connected to the current arguments over the next Spending Review (2015/16) which will be announced on 26 June. Those negotiations are still on going and the Ministry of Defence is one of the departments which has yet to settle its budget for that year.

The 2010 Strategic Defence Review announced the Army would be cut by 7,000 posts. A further 12,000 positions were later added to bring the Army down to a size of 82,000 by 2020.

The Royal Navy and RAF were cut by 5,000 each at the same time. Those posts have already been cut.

Those being forced to leave today will have to quit the Army by June 2014.